When Leaders Warn Us To Be Fearful, We Can Expect to Be Controlled

Wednesday

Jul 31, 2013 at 12:25 AM

Although pushed from the front page, the National Security Agency continues to collect prodigious amounts of data on us every day, and the House just voted to continue the practice. The makeup of those in favor of this abrogation of constitutional rights has been surprising.The most conservative leaders in Congress have joined with President Barack Obama and moderates to stress how important this program is to our future safety.They have it wrong.America is home to just 5 percent of the world's people, but we have 25 percent of the world's prisoners. We seem to live in fear daily.Despite the links between violence and poverty, we continue spending billions on prisons while we cut programs for poor people.The middle class is dying because good jobs are being replaced with minimum-wage jobs, and the minimum wage is insufficient for survival. Every day, we are creating desperate people who will someday decide enough is enough.To just about everyone but those who supposedly lead us, gun background checks are a good idea. To most rational people, laws should not allow an aggressor to stalk, then kill, yet suffer no penalty.To every other advanced country in the world, health care is a right, not a luxury. Only when citizens vote or visionaries will we begin to see change.Voting for candidates who warn us to be fearful will only beget more fear. Until we decide to live with hope and not fear, those who wish to control us will continue to do so.ANDY CROSSFIELDLakeland